Kevin Kiefer News

Chief U.S. District Judge Catherine C. Blake sentenced Noly Torato Vidad of the Philippines, the Chief Engineer of the cargo vessel M/V Selene Leader, to eight months in prison, followed by one year of supervised release, for obstruction of justice and violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (APPS). The sentence was announced by U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein; Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division John C. Cruden; and Coast Guard Captain Kevin Kiefer, Captain of the Port of Baltimore.

The Hachiuma Steamship Co., LTD pleaded guilty January 30 to violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (APPS), arising from the failure to maintain an accurate oil record book concerning the illegal disposal of oil residue and bilge water overboard the cargo vessel M/V Selene Leader. Chief U.S. District Judge Catherine C. Blake sentenced Hachiuma Steamship to pay $1.8 million, and placed it on probation for three years during which it is to develop an environmental compliance program. The plea and sentence were announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division John C. Cruden; and Coast Guard Captain Kevin Kiefer, Captain of the Port of Baltimore.

North American World Maritime Day Observance and US Coast Guard Missions Conference to feature Piracy, Stewardship, Safety and Security. Two day event draws maritime industry, regulators and regional representatives. Piracy will be the focus of this year’s North American World Maritime Day Observance being held in Tampa, FL on October 27th followed by a US Coast Guard Missions conference on October 28th which will feature panel discussions on the stewardship, safety and security missions of the Coast Guard. Both events will be held at the Marriott Waterside in Tampa and are free and open to the public. North American regional representatives from industry, government and NGO’s will dialog on these critically important regional issues.

Port workers, longshore workers, truckers and others at the Port of Huntington/Tri-State will begin to enroll in the Department of Homeland Security's Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) program. The program's goal is to ensure that any individual who has unescorted access to secure areas of port facilities and vessels has received a thorough background check and is not a security threat. Nationwide, more than 1 million workers with unescorted access to secure areas will apply for TWIC between 2007 and 2008. "The start of enrollment is one more step in our effort to prevent persons who are a threat from gaining access to secure areas of port facilities," said Maurine Fanguy, TWIC program director for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).